Parshat Ki Tetze
by Rabbi Avi Billet
Divorce is not a funny subject. Jokes about divorce, on the other hand, could be funny.
Many years ago, I attended a lecture given by a Dayan from England, on the topic of divorce – the talk was a serious one, and the messages he shared about working on a marriage and doing whatever possible to save a marriage were quite valuable – while he also acknowledged that some divorces (though possibly not all proposed divorces) need to take place.
Before he began his lecture, he said, in an unmistakable British accent, “Before I begin, I may as well get the old joke out of the way,” and he began to tell of a loving husband who was asking his wife what she wanted for her birthday… each offer was summarily rejected.
